There is nothing better than the great natural light of early morning or evening, but we don't always have that light or the sun doesn't cooperate and is in the wrong place. That is where having a reflector comes into play.
A great shot with excellent back lighting and key lighting.
Reflectors come in all sorts of shapes, colors and sizes, but the principals are the same. Reflectors are meant to redirect and/or adjust the properties of light for an intended subject. This allows you to achieve the desired shot out of the camera and reduces the amount of post processing needed.
A typical multi-reflector set with (left to right) black, gold, white and silver reflectors
To increase contrast and unadjusted light to the subject, the Silver/White reflectors are the best option. For warming the shot there is Gold and Soft Sun that warm the light on the shot. There is also typically a white diffuser to help soften harsh light hitting a subject as well as a black 'reflector' that can absorb or block light sources that are negatively impacting the subject.
Outside Usage
A reflector helps in a number of ways when shooting outside and those ways can all help turn a good shot into a professional shot.
First, the reflector provides great fill light and increases the exposure quality of the subject.
subject in shaddow
subject with corect lighting
The added light helps your subject stand out and lets you lower your ISO for a higher quality shot.
The reflector can also allow you to compose the subject and background as you see fit. Since facing the subject away from the sun will place it in shadow, that usually is a poor option, but the reflector will eliminate shadows and free up your ability to compose the shot the way you want.
Subject is poorly exposed since the light is at the subject's back.
Subject is exposed, but the background is overexposed.
Aside from the squinting subject, the exposure is closer to accurate with reflector.
And outside, you can use the reflector as your key light, the sun as a back light & hair light and ambient light as your fill light. This can result in a more dynamically lit shot than you could get with only the sun as a light source.
Indoor Usage
When shooting indoors, the reflector can be just as useful. Let's say that you are shooting in a room that lacks a neutral surface to bounce your flash off of. In this case you can use your reflector as a neutral bounce surface.
bouncing the flash off of a red wall incorrectly lights the subject
placing a reflector between the wall and the flash provides a more natural surface to bounce the flash off of
Or what if your subject will be in close proximity to a non-neutral surface or a very reflective surface. You can use your black reflector to neutralize that offensive light source.
Night Shooting
With night shooting, the reflector is a great way to get more light on a subject than you can get with flash alone by providing another surface to catch extra light from your flash. This is useful if you only have one flash or one mono light but want to avoid the harshness that can come from shooting with only one flash and no ambient light.
Summary
I hope that you can now see the advantages that a $30 reflector can bring to your shooting. I only leave mine at home when I don't have any room because I never know when it may come in handy. It is a little awkward to bring along for casual shooting, if you pop one of these open while at Outback celebrating a friends dinner, you're bound to get a few awkward looks. For everything else, it is a amazingly useful tool.
If you don't own a reflector but want to start taking better pictures then it is my suggestion to make the investment. After your first shoot with it, you'll realize how much you were missing:
comes into play.
